Visit to Equal Streets

On the 26th of April, 4 of Swachhalay’s members visited the Times of India Equal Streets, which brings in large crowds of all ages every Sunday morning. Our team conducted a survey from people representing every age group, giving ideas and sharing opinions on how the state of Mumbai’s public toilets can be changed.

The questions our team asked varied between their own experiences using public toilets (if they have), comparisons to public toilets in other countries and what they believe can bring about a change in sanitising our toilets.

The younger crowd seemed more enthusiastic in taking part in our initiative while the older crowd gave valuable insights and ideas that can be used to refine the public toilets. One of the many bright idea’s are-

To increase the fee of using the toilets

Clean up after using the toilet

Spread awareness of health hazards involved in the usage of unhygienic toilets

Have well trained attendants to clean the toilets at scheduled timings

Have state of the art toilets that can be used

By compiling these idea’s, Swachhalay can aim towards these goals and make use of these ideas. Every age group gave keen idea’s and every person our team inquired were positive and eager to bring about a change. All of the responses were positive.

As for people’s opinions on using public toilets, it was overwhelmingly negative. People were put off by the stink, the stains, the uncleanliness and stains around the walls. This goes to show that not only the Government, but the people as well, need to take an action towards the current state of the toilets. Many do believe that it is not only the Governments job to maintain an untainted state of the toilets.

The high success of this initiative can be credited to the members of Swachhalay﻿ who visited Equal Streets. Their eagerness and dynamism was captured by the people as they confidently stepped up to collect as much information as possible on this sunny, busy Sunday morning. They approached people from every age group to collect ﻿a variety of idea’s and opinions and helped in spreading awareness of our cause.

Due to the eager and positive spirit of our member’s, a lot of youngsters are now keen in joining our organisation and aiding us in achieving the dream and goal of a healthy, sanitised India.

Visit to Khar East toilets

The members of Swachhalay visited the toilets in Khar east built by MP Poonam Mahajan. Our team paid a visit to the toilets in Shastri Nagar colony and Nehru Nagar colony. At the time of the visit, both these toilets were under construction. Our team was surprised to see that none of these toilets had adequate water supply and lacked proper ventilation.

As a result users had to carry their own buckets full of water that they had filled from their houses, and many opted out from using the toilet all together and openly defecated. This causes many health hazards to the people living in these colonies. Many of these hazards include Typhoid and Diarrhea.

Next, our team visited the slums internally and were aghast and completely taken aback to see the horrid state of how people lived in these slums. Children lacked the basic access to clean water and drank sewage water, a debris of garbage of at least 8 feet. Also, the slum failed in providing proper safety for their women as they have no place to practice basic sanitation in terms of menstruation.

The revolting state of these slums would arouse revulsions in anyone who is to step foot into these slums and it is our job to provide the basic amenities required for these slum dwellers to lead a hygienic and safe life.